Coconut pumpkin soup

This soup was a hit at our Thanksgiving dinner in Jerusalem. It’s a good way to prepare pumpkin left over from Halloween or Thanksgiving, but then again, it’s also a good excuse just to go out and buy pumpkin.

Chop the onion, and start frying it in a thick-bottomed pot on a medium flame, with a little olive oil. Once the onion becomes translucent, add the garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (or crushed — I don’t have a garlic press). Add the spices. Peel the pumpkin and chop it into cubes, and add it to the pot along with the water. Cover and let simmer until the pumpkin is soft enough that it breaks apart with a fork. Then turn off the flame, add the coconut milk and most of the parsley and blend with a stick blender. Add the rest of the parsley and the pumpkin seed oil, so that the soup has flecks of green and brown color, or use them to top the individual bowls.

Other options: Add red pepper or more curry powder for a spicier soup, or milk cream instead of coconut for a dairy soup.

UPDATE: I happened to see pumpkin seed oil for sale at Teva Castel, which leads me to believe that other health food stores probably carry it, too.